10 Things You Need To Know This Morning

Asian markets were down in overnight trading, with the Nikkei and the Hang Seng falling 0.9 percent. European markets are lower across the board, with Spain down 1.1 percent. Dow futures are down 37 points ahead of the U.S. trading session and S&P 500 futures are off 2.5 points.

U.S. retailer JC Penney reported a loss of $0.93 per share, missing consensus estimates of an $0.11 loss. CEO Ron Johnson said in the release that JCP is "really a tale of two companies. By far the largest part of our store is the old jcpenney, which continues to struggle and experience significant challenges as evidenced by our third quarter results."

The Reserve Bank of Australia trimmed its growth forecasts for the country in a new quarterly outlook released Friday to 3.0 percent from a previous range of 3.0-3.5 percent. The central bank cited a reluctance on the part of mining companies to continue investment.

Japan looks set to avoid its own fiscal cliff in the coming days. Citi strategists write that party leaders have "agreed in principle to pass the bill in the Lower House on November 15 and in the Upper House on November 19, and that "while there still remains some uncertainty over negotiations, we expect the bill’s approval around November 20."